Galatea

Galatea, in Greek mythology, a Nereid who was loved by the CyclopsPolyphemus. Galatea, however, loved the youth Acis. When Polyphemus discovered Acis and Galatea together, he crushed Acis to death with a boulder. Galatea is also the name, in some versions of the Pygmalion story, of the statue that Pygmalion creates and then falls in love with.

frescoPolyphemus and Galatea in a landscape, Roman fresco from the imperial villa of Agrippa Postumus at Boscotrecase, Italy, last decade of the 1st century bce; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.Photograph by AlkaliSoaps. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, Rogers Fund, 1920 (20.192.17)

GalateaPlate depicting the triumph of Galatea, tin-glazed earthenware from Urbino, Italy, c. 1550–75; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.Photograph by Beesnest McClain. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Varya and Hans Cohn, AC1992.152.120

This article was most recently revised and updated by Virginia Gorlinski, Associate Editor.